The Pace Clock — Your Training Partner

Parent Guide Series

There are three ingredients you need to be a great swimmer: water, skill, and a pace clock.

You’ll find one at the end of every Bluefins pool — the large white clock with a half-red, half-black hand that never stops. It’s more than just a timer. It’s the heartbeat of the training session.

Swimmers and coaches use the pace clock to control when to start, measure how fast each repeat is swum, and manage recovery between efforts. It’s what turns lengths into structured, measurable training.

Why It Matters

From Skills Academy to National Performance, every swimmer learns to use the pace clock. It builds awareness, independence, and accountability — three traits every coach looks for in a developing athlete.

When swimmers master the pace clock, they can:

• Take ownership of their training

• Understand effort and pacing — learning how different speeds feel

• Track progress and fitness over time

• Adjust pace mid-set based on what the clock shows

• Become more coachable and race-aware, ready to take feedback and apply it

Every performance programme in the world relies on it — because great swimmers don’t just swim hard, they swim smart.

How to Read It

All our pools use analogue pace clocks — large white faces with a red and black hand that move once every minute. Every number represents seconds, not hours.

Instead of reading it like a normal clock, think of it like this:

• Top = :00 seconds

• Quarter past = :15 seconds

• Half = :30 seconds

• Quarter to = :45 seconds

Many young swimmers have grown up in a digital world — phones, tablets, and watches all show time differently. For them, the analogue clock can feel unfamiliar at first, but it’s a skill worth mastering.

It teaches swimmers to calculate and think for themselves, combining maths, timing, and awareness. Understanding what the clock is telling them is just as important as refining stroke technique or mastering turns.

It’s also a must-have skill for lane leaders. They use the clock to set the rhythm, call the starts, and keep spacing consistent — helping everyone in the lane practise clock awareness so they’re ready to lead when it’s their turn.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Always look before you go — know when you started, and most of all remember that number. Once you master that, the pace clock becomes your best training partner."

Red and Black Hands

Every Bluefins pace clock has two hands — red and black — moving together but 30 seconds apart.

Most swimmers use the red hand for timing, but the black hand can also help coaches create small timing variations or add an extra 30 seconds’ rest interval if the squad needs more recovery.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "You’ll almost always start on the red hand, but knowing what the black hand does helps when comparing finish times or understanding how coaches manage recovery."

Example 1 — Learning to Read Your Time

Here’s how a Development swimmer might practise reading the clock during a 150m continuous swim (six lengths) in warm-up.

Touch the wall at each 50m, glance quickly at the clock — the red hand shows how long that 50m took — then push and go again.

As swimmers gain experience, usually in early Performance squads, they begin to calculate their previous splits and hold those numbers in memory until the end of the swim. By the finish, they’ll have the three times that show how well they managed pace and effort.

Swim	Distance	Target / Goal	Split Time	Red-Hand Position	Total Time
1	50m	Smooth, easy pace	0:42	:42 seconds	0:42
2	50m	Build speed	0:40	:22 seconds (past top)	1:22
3	50m	Fast finish	0:38	:00 (top)	2:00

Goal: Maintain control and build pace on each 50m.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Look up as you turn, find the red hand, and remember the number." "That’s your split — it shows whether you’re building speed or slowing through the swim."

Did You Know? Some overseas pools have four coloured hands (blue, green, yellow, red) 15 seconds apart. Bluefins swimmers who attend our Spring Lanzarote Training Camp will already know how to read these multi-hand pace clocks.

Example 2 — Classic Age Group Performance Threshold Set

A typical Bluefins threshold set develops endurance, pacing, and mental resilience.

Each 100m starts on a 1:35 cycle — swimmers go again every 1:35.

Three repeats make one round of 4:45; the next round restarts at 5:30, giving a short reset before continuing.

Repeat	Distance	Cycle	Round Time	Restart Time
3 × 100m	Freestyle	1 minute 35s	4 minutes 45s	5 minutes 30s

Set: 5 × (3 × 100m FS) @ 1:35 cycle, restart every 5:30

Total Distance: 1500m

Duration: ≈ 27 minutes

100m	Start	Finish	Red-Hand Position	Split
1	:00	1:16	:16s (past top)	1:16
2	1:35	2:52	:8s (before top)	1:17
3	3:10	4:29	:29s (past top)	1:19

💬 Coach’s Tip: "The goal is control, not chasing speed. A small drop-off (1–3 s) means you’re right on threshold; anything larger means you started too fast."

Why We Use It

• Builds aerobic threshold — that sustainable pace between steady and race effort

• Trains swimmers to hold pace and focus under fatigue

• Reinforces the importance of cycle timing and awareness

• Provides consistent data to track efficiency and progress

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Bluefins swimmers learn to feel their threshold pace. The clock confirms it - it doesn’t set it."

Lane Gaps — Getting It Right

Swimmers set off one at a time to keep clear water between them. This avoids drafting, keeps times accurate, and lets everyone swim their own pace.

Guide:

• 25m pool, 4 swimmers → 10 seconds gap

• 25m pool, 6–7 swimmers → 5 seconds gap

• Adjust for speed: if the leader is faster, still use 5 seconds gap

• 50m pool (Long Course) often holds up to 12 swimmers per lane → 5 seconds gap. Larger venues can allow up to 16 per lane — sharp organisation and push-offs are essential.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Aim for clear water, not chaos. Stick to your order and check the clock before every push-off."

Lane Etiquette — Toe Tapping

Swimmers should never continuously touch the toes of the swimmer in front — it’s off-putting, distracting, and breaks rhythm.

If you’re catching up and need to pass:

1. Tap once to indicate you are there, then overtake down the middle of the lane, following the blue line, safely mid-length.

2. Or, wait and reorder at the next start sequence.

Toe tapping should only ever be needed in longer sets of around 200m and above — very rarely in 100m or shorter repeats.

Good lane organisation, with swimmers in the correct order for pace, avoids the need for switching positions altogether.

Early Development swimmers often surge and slow, causing small pile-ups; with practice they learn to maintain a steady, consistent pace.

Experienced swimmers may occasionally swap positions during the red-zone turn, but only with awareness and timing.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Playful or continuous toe-tapping isn’t communication — it’s inexperience in action." "Smart swimmers use the pace clock and their awareness, not someone else’s feet."

Why We Avoid Drafting (“Getting a Tow”)

This one reason not to push off too early. Sitting too close behind another swimmer gives a “tow” — less drag and faster times, but false feedback.

*Research shows that swimming directly behind another swimmer can reduce drag by around 20% and lower energy cost by up to 30% in ideal conditions.

That means the swimmer drafting behind is doing significantly less work — often equivalent to an easier training zone.

Drafting hides what coaches need to see:

• Disguises pacing errors

• Reduces effort without real gain

• Stops swimmers feeling their own stroke pressure

• Makes fitness tracking meaningless

• Can make swimmers lazy — with position 3 often the easy cruise spot

A swimmer who drafts may look faster, but they’re not getting stronger.

💬 Coach’s Tip:

"The pace clock rewards honest effort. If you’re drafting, the numbers lie — and progress stalls."

*Based on findings from Chatard & Wilson, “Drafting Distance in Swimming,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2003.

Intervals and Rest

Term	Meaning	Example
Interval / Cycle Time	Swim + rest combined; everyone starts on a repeating time.	10 × 100m on 1:40 → start every 1:40
Rest Interval	Fixed rest before restarting.	8 × 50m, 20 s rest → 20 s between each

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Most squad work uses intervals — they build rhythm, pacing, and control under fatigue."

The Smart Swimmer Formula

Every Bluefins swimmer should know:

1. Target pace — what you aim to hold

2. Cycle time — when you go again

3. Actual split — what the clock says

Link all three and you’re in control of your swimming.

Measuring Fitness, Fatigue and Progress

The pace clock is the simplest performance tracker in sport.

It shows instantly whether you’re:

• Improving — faster times on the same cycle

• Stable — consistent under load

• Fatigued — dropping off too quickly

Coaches track “drop-off” (difference between first and last rep).

• A small drop = strong fitness.

• A large drop = fatigue or pacing issue.

That’s how readiness and recovery are monitored through the season.

How Pace-Clock Skills Progress Through the Bluefins Pathway

Squad Stage	What They Learn	Coaching Focus
Skills Academy	Learn what the clock does and when to go	Basic timing awareness
Competitive & County Development	Use 5s / 10s gaps, check finish times, hold pace	Develop pacing, link times with effort, avoid drafting
Age Group & Youth Performance	Apply clock to threshold, aerobic and race-pace sets	Understand cycles, drop-off %, recovery
Regional & National Performance	Combine clock data with stroke count, heart rate, perceived effort	Refine race strategy and efficiency

💬 Coach’s Tip: "The best swimmers don’t just know their time — they know why it was that time."

Bluefins Clock Challenges

Drill	Goal	Focus
10 × 100m FS @ 1:40	Hold 1:25–1:28	Endurance pacing
8 × 50m @ :60 (Build)	Each 50m faster	Speed control
400m + 200m TT (CSS Test)	Calculate threshold pace	Aerobic tracking
6 × 25m from push, 5s gaps	Hold even splits	Reaction & rhythm
Crash & Burn	Start @ 60s cycle, 50m FS, reduce 1second each rep	Cycle control & fatigue resistance

Experienced swimmers can often reach a 35-second cycle, testing form and composure under pressure.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "Don’t chase PBs in training — chase consistency. That’s what leads to faster races."

💬 Coach’s View: "Whistle control is essential for many of these test sets. Under fatigue it becomes harder for swimmers to log times accurately, so clear audio control keeps everyone on the same cycle and in rhythm."

Parent and Swimmer Guide

For swimmers:

• Always look before you go — know your start point.

• Keep gaps consistent.

• Log your splits honestly.

• Use the clock to learn, not to hide.

For parents:

• Ask what your swimmer was “holding” rather than if they won the rep.

• Celebrate consistency and effort.

• Encourage independence — the clock teaches focus and self-management.

• Remember: learning the pace clock builds skills that extend far beyond the pool.

💬 Coach’s Tip: "The pace clock is one of the simplest tools in swimming — yet it separates the good from the great. It’s the mirror of the pool — always running, always honest, never lying."

"Swimmers who understand it take control. Swimmers who ignore it stay dependent."

Learn the clock.

Trust the clock.

The clock never lies.

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